Troopers reported this weekend that the search for two Koliganek travelers, missing since Friday, were located in good condition on Saturday just after 12 noon.

The Department of Public Safety in Dillingham was notified at 7:03 pm on Friday evening by the village of Koliganek, that two 17-tear-old teens, who were attempting to travel from Koliganek to New Stuyahok, about 28 miles to the south, on the frozen Nushagak River on an ATV or snow machine, had not arrived at their destination.

Troopers report that they had also “received multiple reports in regards to the poor condition of the ice on the river with several spots of open water and deep overflow.”

The Rescue Coordination Center and the United States Coast Guard were notified of the missing teens and began search operations. On Saturday,  Alaskan Wildlife Troopers in a Supercub out of Dillingham and a AWT helicopter out of King Salmon took up the search, as did several ground teams from Koliganek and New Stuyahok.

At approximately 12:36 pm, the teens were located, in good condition and on foot, several miles south of Koliganek. The troopers report that the two teens had suffered a collision and were thrown from their machine. Because the collision, the machine suffered significant damage and was inoperable. The teens continued on foot towards New Stuyahok.

The teens were transported safely to New Stuyahok on Saturday afternoon.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  Alaska, Coast Guard, koliganag, missing, new stuyahok, nushagak river, rcc, search and rescue, teens, troopers, wildlife